Contact lenses, finally

My eyes have steadily gotten worse to the point that I am almost dependent on my glasses. On my last checkup when I had my current glasses made, my prescription was -3.00 on each eye with 0.25 astigmatism on the right. Dear god! I even developed astigmatism! Myopia and astigmatism is common on my father’s side. Unfortunately, it was only I who inherited bad eyes; my brother and sister both have fine eyesight, thanks to my mother’s side.

I know some people have it so bad that they need contacts in the shower, even though it’s an absolute no-no to expose contacts to water. That’s still no consolation; I can barely make out anything without my glasses, so I also have it bad.

Anyway, I hate wearing glasses except at home and in school. I feel like glasses sort of clash with my outfits. Besides, glasses severely limit my peripheral vision; this becomes a problem when I need to cross the street. So despite my apprehensions, I finally decided to get a pair of contact lenses.

I wanted to follow the advice of reputable beauty bloggers to get my contacts at optical shops, but, um…they’re still too expensive for my limited budget, and they sell solutions and lens cases separately. I did some research and found that a lot of longtime users get their contacts from online shops and they’re doing just fine. So I took the plunge.

I browsed The Purple Tote Shoppe‘s Crystal contact lens selection. They have a diverse catalog, but there were limited color choices for people who need graded contacts like me. I decided to get a pair of Ruby brown lenses since the design looked a bit more subtle compared to the other variants. The package, which consists of a pair of contacts in sealed vials, a lens case, an instruction manual, a bottle of 40mL solution (very handy for travel!), and shipping, cost me P400. I received my package one day after shipping.

I watched several videos and read several instructions online regarding contact lens, so I had a pretty good idea of how to clean them and put them on. My eyes didn’t blink like crazy while I was attempting to insert the contacts, but I still found it difficult because the contact lens were big at 15mm. They kept touching my upper waterline, so my eyes kept blinking them right back out. One lens made my eye feel like there was a particularly big piece of debris in it; I had to take the lens out and clean it four times before it felt comfortable. I thought it would be harder to take out the contacts because you had to pinch them, but it’s actually very easy.

So yeah, I succeeded in putting on both lenses! I didn’t even tear up that much. I love how I can see clearly without the weight of eyeglasses. However, I am still aware of the contacts in my eye. They’re not uncomfortable; I just know they’re there. Well, this is my first time wearing them, so I expect to get used to them in time. I think I look kinda funny, though; my eyes look like dolls’ eyes, all wide and dilated. Haha!

I read that eyeglass prescriptions and contact lens prescriptions are different because they’re placed at different distances from the eye, but I’m happy to report that in my case, the grade I need for both is the same, -3.00. My contacts don’t have astigmatism correction, though.

FOR FIRST-TIME CONTACTS USERS

I recommend going to an optical shop for contacts if it’s your first time; an ophthalmologist will help you get contacts that fit your eye, and he/she will instruct you on how to put them on, take them out, and care for them.

The two most important things to remember are that you must always wash your hands with soap that doesn’t leave residue before handling your contacts and that you must always rub and rinse your contacts with solution before and after wearing them.